The Western Isles

The Western Isles has a population of 26,000 people, with more than half of these living within a ten mile radius of the town of Stornoway. The remainder of the population is sparsely spread amongst the islands covering a road distance of 190 km. The islands host a number of different faith groups with 86% of residents being Christian.

A large proportion of young people leave the islands to attend further education or employment on the mainland. This leaves the demographics showing a picture of disproportionately high population of older people, and the young people who remain are often from some of the more disadvantaged groups or work in low paid employment.

Although HIV and STI surveillance systems in Scotland and the UK have evolved to become one of the world’s most comprehensive and informative systems, unfortunately they have not fully been developed to include the more remote and rural areas such as Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. Therefore, it is difficult to establish a true picture of the sexual health issues for our area using such systems. Systems are being developed to ensure we have a more accurate picture in the future.

Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy in the Western Isles has been on the decline since 1995, and we are already meeting the 2010 national target of a 20% decrease in 13-year-olds to 15-year-olds. Although the Western Isles are currently performing on target, we cannot become complacent and will continue to work towards maintaining our low levels of teenage pregnancy.

Sexually Transmitted Infections

The graph below indicates the diagnosis rate for all STIs in Scotland, by health board, showing very low rates for Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles.

Rate of laboratory reports of sexually transmitted infections, by health board.

Rate per 100,000 population

The three Island health board areas do not have ready access to specialist genitourinary medicine clinics, but there is evidence that patients access services on the mainland and seek advice locally. Because of this and the confidential nature of the service, it is difficult to obtain reliable statistics concerning the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases in the Western Isles.

Local Priorities

The following have been identified from the national context as priorities for action:

A set of six key action points and detailed action plans have been developed in order to integrate these local priorities into practice. The implementation and completion of these plans will contribute to improving the sexual health of the population of the Western Isles.

Key Action Points

The following six priority action points have been developed to form the basis for detailed inter-agency action plans as outlined in the following section. This is set out to show the action plans of the local authority, the NHS and other relevant stakeholders.

Provide opportunities to develop negotiation and communication skills, with emphasis being on the development of self-esteem and respect for others, good personal relationships and respect for diversity.  We will seek to develop informed attitudes and decision making based upon knowledge, understanding, skills and dispositions. Knowledge and information will be provided to develop and foster healthy attitudes towards sex and sexuality.

Reduce the rate of unintended teenage pregnancy and ensure information and support to those who have an unintended pregnancy.  All young people and their families should have equal and easy access to services.

Ensure all members of the Western Isles community have access to good quality sexual health advice and services as required. Provide integration and collaboration between services to ensure effectiveness for all sectors of the community.

Increase monitoring, surveillance and research to support future planning of sexual health services and interventions.

Continue raising public awareness about issues concerning sexual health.

To promote awareness of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections as a continuing public health issue.

Local Action Plans

Actions for NHS Western Isles

Family Planning